There’s more to magic than Harry Potter.
Heather Vaughan/Renegade Game Studios
So you’ve probably heard about a certain wizard game coming out soon. While there are plenty of good reasons not to play Hogwarts Legacy, you don’t have to give up on wearing a pointy hat and waving a wand around entirely.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses’ school isn’t just for magic, but some of the game’s best bits come from exploring the Officers Academy and bonding with the soon-to-be-traumatized students on campus.
Each installment of The Elder Scrolls has a magic academy you can enroll in. Skyrim’s College of Winterhold is a little light, but Oblivion and Morrowind’s Mages Guilds offer involved quests to help you master the arcane arts.
Despite being more than 10 years old, Avencast’s magical combat is still unmatched. It has a sprawling spell list, which you cast with button combos, making magic feel more like a skill to be learned than it does in most games.
In magical management sim Spellcaster University, you don’t just go to magic school — you run one. As the director of a magical academy, you’ll build your campus, manage the school, and prepare your students for the wildly dangerous life of a mage.
Okay, you can’t play Witchbrook yet, but it should definitely be on your radar. Made by Starbound developer Chucklefish, Witchbrook lets you explore academic life and extracurriculars in a magic school, while getting cozy with villagers from the neighboring town.
If you want a break from video games to play a tabletop RPG (which I highly recommend), check out Kids on Brooms. You play as a group of kids in a magic school you create, complete with a totally customizable free-form magic system. Even TTRPG newcomers should find it easy to pick up.
Ikenfell is the anti-Harry Potter. It’s not just that it does without the inexplicably beloved book series’ regressive elements — its heartwarming story puts queer characters in the spotlight. Plus, it features a fun timing-based battle system and a killer soundtrack.